Commissioner Patrick Boyle defended his virtual attendance at the St. Louis County Board meeting Tuesday in Duluth, saying he didn't see the COVID-19 pandemic ending soon, and that he was offended he and the other Duluth commissioners were called out by Nelson for attending the meeting virtually.
"In January, we had 100,000 deaths in this country. It's nothing we should look at and say, 'Shucks, we should be at meetings right now,'" Boyle said. "That's highly offensive, Commissioner Nelson."
Patrick Boyle
Boyle spoke at the end of the meeting, after Nelson, of Virginia, had earlier chided Duluth commissioners for choosing to attend the meeting from their homes "even though we've been masked up for eight months," he said.
Boyle, representing eastern Duluth, is a nurse practitioner. He noted county public health workers and volunteers north and south who are working six days a week to get people immunized and tested.
"We need to take all the precautions we can," Boyle said. "I will continue to do these meetings (virtually), because it's the best for our community health-wise."
Nelson told the board he and several family members, along with his office secretary, have had COVID-19 recently, but that despite it he and his secretary have "not a missed a day" of work.
"I consider myself a frontline worker, too," Nelson said, "making sure people's issues are taken care of in government."
Nelson told the News Tribune he worked from home during his isolation period. He contracted the virus from a daughter who is a health care professional. His secretary contracted it earlier than he did, he said, from an outside source.
"I will not shirk my responsibility to the people who put me in that office," Nelson told the board.
Keith Nelson
Nelson did attend one meeting virtually, on Jan. 12.
Like Boyle, Commissioners Frank Jewell and Ashley Grimm, representing central and western Duluth, respectively, have also been regularly attending meetings virtually.
Jewell noted the board has been accommodating of virtual attendance, and confronted Board Chair Mike Jugovich about Nelson's comment. Jugovich said he "never heard an attack" and wouldn't "turn the meeting into a circus."
Nelson has a long history of controversy on the board. Earlier this year, he referred to the city of Duluth as "a cesspool."
"(I) was not trying to offend anyone," Nelson said. "But I do love being reminded how offensive I am."
Jewell defended Boyle.
"I, too, find it offensive when he does that," Jewell said. "He just feels he gets special something because he's working so hard. All of us are working hard."
Boyle said he was intent on not becoming a spreader of the virus, and that he doesn't anticipate any imminent societal relief from the coronavirus.
"I don't see it ending any time soon," Boyle said, citing new variants that are more contagious than the original strain. He predicted: "We are going to get another wave of deaths."
"Masks don't make you bulletproof, far from it," Boyle said. "Until we have herd immunity in our county, in our state, in our country, we're going to have issues with this moving forward."
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February 03, 2021 at 06:00AM
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St. Louis County commissioner says he continued to work when he had COVID-19 - Duluth News Tribune
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